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How your friends affect your job prospects

A new book charts the connection between your career and the friends you keep.

President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). A new book charts the link between careers and friendships.
President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). A new book charts the link between careers and friendships.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Not happy with your career? It might be time to look at who your friends are, according to the new book, Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are.

According to author Carlin Flora, it all starts with the friends we make as teenagers. “If you are from a lower socio-economic status and you befriend people in a higher socio-economic status, it sort of opens up vistas for you. You see other people’s parents and their careers and it helps you envision yourself in those careers,” she says.

As we get older, we may experience something akin to career peer pressure — adapting to the high or low career standards of our friends.

“In a more tangible sense, if you are hanging around friends who are doing well, they are going to give you more opportunities to say, invest in venture or they are going to give you tips,” says Flora.

To hear more about how friendships can affect your career choices, click on the audio player above.

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